Chapter Two
Stephanie weaved her little red BMW in and out of traffic. God, she loved this car. Peppy and easy to handle. It had been used when she bought it, but still it felt like an indulgence. After years of driving unreliable, beat up cars she'd finally folded and gotten a BMW. The salesman had said it would change her life. It was the ultimate driving machine after all. She wasn't sure about the changing her life part, but it definitely made driving a lot more fun.
She whipped into the parking lot of her apartment building with time to spare. She probably could have had the quickie with Morelli, but Trenton traffic could be unpredictable. Stephanie cruised the lot, and, as usual, there were no parking spaces up close. The downside of living in a building with mainly senior citizens, they didn't go out much. They were also vicious when it came to parking. Stephanie was pretty sure they would club you to death with their walker over a parking space. Fortunately, she considered the extra twenty yards to be her exercise for the day. That alleviated some of the guilt of never going to the gym and justified the tastykake she planned to eat for breakfast.
Her apartment building was a three-story, completely boring, lacking any character building, but the rent was reasonable and the hot water worked, most of the time. It wasn't going to be gracing the pages of architectural digest anytime soon, but it suited her just fine. It was quiet, and none of the residents were from the Burg, which meant, most of the time, they weren't informing on her to her mother.
Stephanie wasn't really sure how it was at the age of thirty-two, people were still tattling on her to her mother, but they were. Helen Plum regularly called her daughter in a state of near panic over some perceived breach of etiquette. Lately the calls had been about her car parked in front of Morelli's house most nights. The Burg was laying bets on a June wedding. Her mother didn't seem to mind that rumor all that much. She just kept dropping hints about whether or not she should reserve the banquet hall for the reception. An involuntary shudder went down her spine at the whole church wedding idea coupled with a boring reception. Maybe she could talk Morelli into eloping to Vegas. She wasn't silly enough to think she'd ever get her dream destination wedding on a beach.
When Stephanie got to the lobby, she skipped the elevator and took the stairs to the third floor, letting herself into her apartment. It was a mismatch of furniture, and would probably cause an interior decorator to faint, but it was hers and it felt like home. From the ugly, but comfy, sofa to the hodge podge of dining room chairs, something about it just worked for her. It was a calming space. Not even the avocado-colored appliances could ruin the bliss. Besides she figured eventually seventies chic would come back into vogue and she'd be cutting edge. All she had to do was wait it out.
One of the many reasons she couldn't really imagine living with Morelli in his house. It was his house, not hers. Not that she thought Morelli had bad taste, his just ran to the more masculine, practical side of the world. It was more giving up her stuff, her style, not that she really had a style to speak of, and adopting his. Everything about it would be his. The house, the furniture, everything.
Maybe she had an overblown sense of independence, but being consumed by a man no longer held much appeal. There had been a time in her life when that might have worked just fine. All through college, she'd been like that. Whatever the boyfriend du jour was into, was what she liked. Fortunately, age and living on her own had changed that habit. She was no longer comfortable or willing to just be consumed into someone else's world. She'd built a life that worked for her, even if her mother didn't approve.
Maybe, she thought, that is why the odds of ever getting married went down the older you got. There was some point of no return, where you were no longer willing to settle or give up parts of yourself just to have a boyfriend or a husband. When you were young, you didn't know any better, and when you got older you had your own identity. Maybe Stephanie had already passed that point.
Stephanie went over to Rex's aquarium and tapped on the cage. "You in there buddy. How was your night?"
She heard some rustling and Rex's cute little hamster butt appeared as he backed out of his soup can. He looked at her with his little beady eyes. His whiskers twitched and he sniffed around looking for new food. Stephanie opened the refrigerator. One head of slimy lettuce, that she had bought because she felt virtuous that day, some bread and a six pack of beer. It was probably time to go shopping. One of the downsides of being an adult. You had to buy your own food.
Stephanie reached into the cabinet and pulled out a butterscotch tastykake. She pulled the cellophane off and broke off a chunk for Rex. He shoved in his mouth and raced back into his soup can.
"Good talk." She said and popped the rest of the tastykake in her mouth. That was about as interactive as her relationship with Rex got, but it worked. Rex was a good listener, and didn't have too many demands. Stephanie snorted. Now if she could just find a man with the same virtues.
Stephanie took a quick shower. She wiped the steam off the mirror. Peering back was her reflection. She knew she had been pretty lucky in the looks department with her straight nose, good teeth, generous lips, and blue eyes, she couldn't really complain. But today, she looked tired. She had dark circles under her eyes.
Maybe Morelli was right. Maybe she should keep a few things at his place, or she should just spend less nights there. They could always alternate and he could spend the night at her apartment, that might work. She thought about that for a second. Somehow sharing her space with Morelli just didn't hold a lot of appeal. She decided not to think about that too much, because it certainly didn't bode well for living together. A talk she was not looking forward to. She figured it was probably all kinds of wrong that she almost hoped somebody got shot and Morelli had to work, just so she could avoid having 'the talk' with him. Clearly mental maturity and full-fledged adulthood was still a long way off for her.
She sighed and took the blow dryer to her long brown hair, taming it into a suitable work style. The auburn highlights and layers framing her face. She swiped on mascara, and dabbed concealer under her eyes. Raymond could be a bit of a sexist pig. She knew if she showed up looking tired, he would make jokes about her getting laid. It wasn't like he'd be wrong, but still, she really didn't want to talk about her sex life with the likes of him.
Stephanie pulled on her bra and panties and padded over to the closet. She rifled through until she found what she was looking for. Today she needed to look professional and be comfortable. It was going to be a long day with a less than pleasant doctor's appoint smack in the middle of it.
She chose a sleeveless navy sheath dress, with matching color block jacket in navy and jade green. The material had enough stretch to be comfortable, and the combination of color looked sophisticated and business like. She already had the promotion, but it wasn't every day she got to meet with the CEO, and she wanted to make a good impression.
She took one last look in the full-length mirror. The jacket nipped in at the waist accentuating her curves, and the latest miracle bra, had definitely worked one. It took her average size B, sometimes C cup, right into va-va-voom territory. The stylish three-inch heels completed the look taking her to five ten, which put her right at eye level with Raymond. Not that wearing heels was necessarily a powerplay, but she hated looking up to men like him. It gave them an innate sense of power if they towered over you. She spritzed on a little perfume and headed out the door.
Twenty minutes later she pulled into the parking lot, with time to spare. The stars seemed to be aligned and the universe was smiling on her today. No traffic, no accidents. The drive in had been a breeze. The clenching of her traitorous body reminded her she had skipped out on some great morning sex with Morelli when she didn't need to. She promised herself she'd make up for it tonight. Maybe that would distract him from the talking part of the evening, although she knew at some point it was a conversation they were going to need to have. Morelli had once proposed in the middle of a libido attack, so it was conceivable he'd forget all about talking, at least for tonight. Stephanie didn't want to talk, because she really didn't have any answers.
Her relationship with Morelli was complicated. She loved him, but she didn't trust him. And, she definitely wasn't sure about the whole living together marriage thing. Yet, she couldn't imagine him not being in her life. It had been years of on-again, off-again, but she definitely hadn't met anyone she was more interested in. That left her with a bit of a dilemma. One she wasn't going to solve by sitting in the parking lot staring at the brick front of the building.
Stephanie badged her way through the glass doors and headed to her office. Stephanie waited as her computer blinked and whirred coming to life. She'd been thinking about the task of growing the department. One of the first things she needed to understand was more about the company financials. She fired off a quick email for her assistant to get the latest data when he got in. She instructed him to leave it on her desk.
Stephanie gave one last longing look at the breakroom and decided to forgo coffee. The last thing she wanted to do was accidentally spill something on herself before her meeting with Raymond. Stephanie looked at the clock, it was five to eight. She grabbed her presentation materials and headed for the elevators. Time to go make a good impression on Raymond.
The elevator dinged and the doors opened. Stephanie stepped inside and hit the button for the top floor. The doors slid closed and Stephanie took a couple of deep breaths, and gave herself a pep talk as the generic muzak drifted through the elevator, grating on her nerves as she tried to place the song that was currently being butchered.
The doors opened and she stepped out onto the executive floor. The desk in front of Raymond's office was empty. His assistant wasn't in yet. She could see the light was on in his office as she approached his door. Raymond was behind his desk on the phone. Stephanie waited a moment, studying him.
Raymond was a decent looking guy in his mid-fifties. He had salt and pepper hair that he kept short and stylish. Raymond spent a decent amount of time at the gym and he was fit and trim. Today he had on a light blue shirt under a navy suit. He didn't have a tie on yet, but there was one with navy and gold paisley draped over the arm of his chair.
He looked up and gave her a smile and waived her in. All in Raymond was a decent boss, even if he did seem to be going through a bit of a mid-life crisis. Raymond was on his second trophy wife. This one two years younger than his daughter by his first wife. Just last week he bought himself a new sports car. A shiny new red corvette. If that didn't scream mid-life crisis, she wasn't sure what did. Surely, she thought, the irony couldn't be lost on him. But then in Stephanie's experience, men were often oblivious to such things.
Stephanie took a seat across from him as he finished up his phone call.
"Ms. Plum you look nice this morning." Raymond said as he gave her a once over. She knew it was meant to be a compliment, but still it irked her a little. Somehow, she doubted that is how he greeted the guy in accounting. But Stephanie pasted a smile on her face anyway because that is how the game was played.
"Thank you. You're looking dapper yourself. New tie?" Stephanie gave him her best fake smile. If Raymond noticed it was fake, he didn't show it. Instead, he beamed at her.
"It is. Melissa bought it for me." He winked conspiratorially at her. Melissa was his latest trophy wife and at least thirty years his junior.
Stephanie gave a little scrunch of her nose. "She has nice taste." It was all Stephanie could do not to roll her eyes or gag.
"How are you settling in to the new role?" Raymond enquired.
Stephanie thought about it for a minute. "Adjusting. Getting more familiar with other aspects of the company."
"Good. I'm hearing good things about you. If there is anything you need, just let me know." His voice was sincere, and Stephanie did appreciate his support.
"I've been giving some thought to ways we might expand the department." Stephanie figured she'd had enough small talk and getting to the business side of the conversation was in order.
"Excellent!" Raymond declared. "Will you be ready to present ideas at the executive meeting in a couple of weeks?"
Stephanie nodded. "Yes, that should work. I'd like to run some of the ideas by you as well."
"Of course, just work with Angie to schedule some time." Raymond reached out and picked up the presentation Stephanie had placed on his desk. "Is this the plan for expanding vendor relationships?"
"It is. I've targeted several vendors for vetting, and scheduled meetings. Raymond, we are going to need at least two more buyers to make this plan work." Stephanie held her breath. Additional staff was always a risky ask.
Raymond flipped through the presentation for a minute. She could tell he was mulling the plan. He reviewed the current staffing chart and projected changes.
Finally, Raymond nodded. "You're right. Although I think it may be three. Let's start the process to hire two and then go from there."
Stephanie let out a little breath she had been holding and nodded. "Will do."
Raymond handed her a piece of paper. It was a list of three vendors with contact information. "I'd like you to add these vendors to the list."
Stephanie looked at the list. She'd never heard of any of them. "Sure, I'll add them to the list to vet."
"No." Stephanie's head snapped up at the sharpness in Raymond's tone. He gave her an apologetic look.
"These vendors have already been vetted. We just need to add them into the system. The recurring orders and wire transfer details are listed for each." Raymond told her.
"OK." Stephanie hedged.
Who had vetted them and when? She really wanted to ask more questions, but it was clear that decision had already been made. She would do what Raymond asked, but that wasn't going to stop her from finding out more about them. There were some pretty big orders on the list. Stephanie wasn't sure how she could put together an effective plan without all the data. She wondered when the decision had been made, and why it had been made without her input.
Irritation bubbled through her, but she held it in check. For all she knew this was a deal that was in the works long before she took the position. It wasn't like there hadn't been a fair amount of chaos anyway. The position had opened up because Brian Fry, the former department head, had died in a freak car accident. There had been no opportunity for an orderly transition, so a number of things probably fell through the cracks. Stephanie hoped she would be able to build from scratch, but she understood if commitments had already been made to the vendors, they needed to be honored for the contract term. She could always reassess when the vendor agreements expired.
The rest of the meeting went quickly and by eight thirty, they wrapped up. Stephanie headed back down to her office, stopping by the breakroom for a cup of coffee. As Stephanie put the coffee in the filter and poured the water in, she thought about her life. Her job was going great, now if she could just figure out her love life. Sometimes she felt like she had been a late bloomer. Of course, the truth was she didn't even feel like an adult most days. But it seemed like things were finally clicking into place. Stable job, sort of stable relationship, maybe. It probably was time to take the plunge with Morelli, at least move some of her stuff in. It certainly seemed like he was hedging it was something he wanted.
She pulled out her phone and sent him a flirty text, and immediately got one back. It seemed like they were on the same page, at least as far as the things they planned to do to each other tonight went. Relationship, marriage, kids, living arrangements not so much, but sheet clawing sex they were good on. Stephanie was smiling as she headed back to her office.
Her assistant Rory was in. He was a twenty something that really wanted to be a musician and not an administrative assistant. His brown hair was perpetually tousled and he wore more eyeliner and nail polish than she did, but he was reliable and smart.
"How was the gig last night?" Stephanie asked him by way of greeting.
Rory gave her his boyish grin. "Good. The bar invited us back. I think by the time we paid for the pizza and beer we drank; we might have even made twenty bucks."
Stephanie laughed. "Well, it sounds like a good night." His easy-going attitude was infectious, and she had to admire him for chasing what he really wanted. Sometimes she felt like she spent too much time settling. Doing things because her family expected her too.
Her job at E.E. Martin paid the bills, but she always felt like there was something missing. It was basically a boring office job. Somehow it didn't quite fit with the little girl that had wanted to be a super hero or an intergalactic princess. The one with the wild imagination and sense of adventure. But maybe that is what happened when you grew up. It was high time to move into the world of full-fledged adult, even if she had to do it kicking and screaming. As her mother always pointed out, it wasn't like she was getting any younger.
Rory handed her a file. "The financials that you wanted."
Stephanie nodded, and headed to her office. "Thank you."
A few hours later, Stephanie was deep into the financial data when Rory knocked on her door.
"You're going to be late to your appointment."
Stephanie looked at the clock. It was almost noon already. The morning had flown by. She'd had trouble making sense of some of the numbers and she'd been down half a dozen rabbit holes already.
Stephanie smiled at him. "Thank you." She said as she grabbed her purse and headed for the elevator.
She definitely didn't want to miss her appointment. If she was honest, what had happened with Bella had terrified her. No way she was going to take a chance moving forward, or leave things up to Morelli or whoever, she might be sleeping with. Not that she expected it would be anyone else, but part of being an adult was taking responsibly for herself. It was odd, this was the second time in her life that she felt like she had dodged a bullet by not getting pregnant by Morelli. She decided she didn't want to think too hard about why that was.
Hopefully the doctor would be on time, and she'd have a chance to grab something to eat before coming back. She needed to spend more time with the financials. Clearly, she was missing something. The amount of money being paid to vendors seemed far higher than it should compared to the stores they supplied. There were also vendors she didn't recognize. Clearly, she needed to get more familiar with suppliers, if she was going to expand the department. That and she needed to get the vendors that Raymond had given her entered into the system, right after she learned more about them. One of the vendor's listed was located at an address close to her doctor. Stephanie figured she might just swing by and check it out.
"Hey Rory." She yelled back to him. "I'll probably be gone for a couple of hours. I'm going to swing by and check out one of the new vendors."
Rory gave her a thumbs up as she stepped onto the elevator.
As Stephanie exited the building, she got this weird tingle at the back of her neck. She reached up and rubbed her neck. That weird tingle had happened several times over the last couple of weeks. It felt like someone was watching, which was absurd. Who would be watching her? Still, she couldn't help herself, she scanned the parking lot looking for anything usual, but found nothing out of place. Just like the other half dozen times over the last couple of weeks. She let out a big sigh. Just nerves she told herself. Pressure from the new job was putting her on edge, that was all. Really what else could it be? There was no reason anybody would be watching her.
Ranger watched as Stephanie Plum came outside and got into her car. Today she had on a very demure navy suit that didn't quite hide her curves. He felt his dick twitch at the sight of her. His reaction just pissed him off. Ranger didn't have time to be distracted by some woman. Especially one he wasn't quite convinced wasn't neck deep in some pretty shady shit. He knew some of the higher ups thought because she dated the cop, she was clean. Ranger wasn't so sure she wasn't smack dab in the middle of whatever was going on with E.E. Martin. In his experience, women were just as jaded as men, far more ruthless, and who you were fucking didn't matter when it came to money. Because it always came down to money.
Still, there was something about her, and damn if he knew what it was. She was attractive enough, with her long dark hair and that generous mouth. A mouth he'd had a few too many fantasies about lately, but that wasn't it. Ranger knew a lot of attractive women; no, it was something else. Something about her that heated his blood and made him want to touch her to see if her skin really was as soft as it looked. To talk to her just to see if that lightness about her was reflected in her voice.
Ranger realized he was sitting in a parking lot thinking he really wanted to kiss that mouth and see if those lips tasted like he thought they would, because he had spent a lot of time imagining what she would taste like. Somehow citrus and honey always came to mind. Sweet, yet tart with a little bite that surprised you and reeled you in. He ached at the thought of having those long legs wrapped around him as he pounded into her.
Fuck, now he had a full-on raging erection. He was pretty sure if he got any harder, he would have a permanent imprint from the zipper of his damn pants. And here Ranger thought at this age, he'd managed some level of self-control. He'd been wrong about that when it came to this woman. Irritation roiled through him as he reached down in a futile effort to adjust himself.
He watched as Stephanie rubbed the back of her neck and scanned the parking lot, almost like she could feel him watching her. Either this woman had some damn good instincts, or she was hiding something. Ranger's money was on the latter. He couldn't help but think her new position wasn't just coincidence. She wasn't fucking Raymond Skagal, of that he was sure, so that led him to believe she was part of it.
Ranger blew out a frustrated breath. Maybe. Her financials and her background didn't hint at anything. She lived in a crappy apartment, owned a car she could afford, had a healthy savings, and didn't seem to have any obvious vices like gambling. She lived well within her means, routinely visited her parents, and had a set of friends that all checked out. Exactly nothing about her screamed shady.
Still, Ranger didn't believe for one minute that Brian Fry's car accident had really been an accident. If that were the case, they would be closing ranks not promoting the likes of Stephanie Plum. He had no doubt she was qualified, but her new position gave her access to things that could be damming. If, of course, what was going on at E.E. Martin, was really going on. Brian Fry had certainly hinted that something was, but he'd died before he'd told anyone the details. Maybe it was just the delusions of some paranoid corporate drone that had him sitting outside some non-descript office building on the outskirts of town watching Stephanie Plum with a hard on. And, that, well that just pissed him off.
Ranger started the Porsche 911 Turbo, the familiar growl of the engine soothing him. He probably should have taken one of the SUVs to blend in a little better, but he hadn't planned to be tailing anyone. In fact, he wasn't exactly sure why he had been sitting outside E.E. Martin for half the morning. He told himself it was just business. That he wasn't sitting here hoping to catch a glimpse of Stephanie Plum. He pulled out and followed the little red beamer at a distance, making sure not draw any unwanted attention.
Maybe, Ranger thought, getting close to Stephanie Plum would be the answer to both of his problems. Yeah, he was warming to that idea. It wasn't like she and cop were exclusive, or at least the cop didn't think they were. He could get close to her, get information on E.E. Martin, maybe even use her credentials to get system access to their network. Take a peek around inside their systems, see what he could find. If she was in on it, maybe he could flip her and use her as an informant. If not, he could still use her to gain intel. If it also ended up having the added bonus of getting her to wrap those long legs around him, well that was an idea he could definitely get behind.